Western cyclone., 1887-05-12
TOO LATE.

"Will you go away, and let me die
in peace?"
mo! l will not go away, and you
cannot die in peace while your iniquit-
Gus will exists. Destroy that, make
one that gives Mary her rightful in
heritance, and | will 60 away, to the
other end of the world if you will.
'And leave me to the servantsP"
"Not unless you desire it. Uncle
Hugh, dear; dear uncle, do listen to
me"
"How can help itP Here you have
me, nailed to my armchair, unable to
leave it, and you keep up one eternal
song that is never out of my ears"
because / cannot take what you
would give me, and Mary will never
take it from me. You have no right to
will it to me. It is hers"
"Hers, indeed 1t is mine"
''But how did it become yoursP
Your wife, Mary's mother left you her
entire fortune. Do you suppose she
would have done so if she had not
trusted you so entirely to do what was
right by her childP"
MARY had no business to marry a
man hate"
"Yes, she had, if he was the man she
loved"
II hate him." was the fierce reply,
''as l hated his father years ago. You
ask me too much, Robert, when you
ask me to make rich man of Stephen
Hallett's son. You do not understand
how for years that man, my trusted,
confidential friend, was using my faith
In him to undermine my business and
work my ruin, because-the woman he
loved loved me! Had guessed that it
was his son Mary would meet at her
Aunt Maria's, | would never have con-
sented to her going to Birmingham.
And when it was too late to influence
her, | gave her the choice between
Walter Hallett and her father, and she
made her own selection"
"But tyranny should not 90 beyond
the grave. You may live for years,
but beg you to let your anger die
when you do. It cannot harm you, in
the grave, to let even Stephen Hallett's
son have the money that ought by
every right to be Mary's."
II will not! never will! Go
away"
He was so fierce, so excited, that
Robert obeyed him, and went to his
own room. He was not young man
something over forty-this cham
pion of his cousins right, never was he
. rich man, although so anxious to
throw away handsome legacy. But
he was a good man, one who went
over to the Highest for strength and
guidance; and he loved his cousin
with the love that was stronger if it
comes late in life. He had hoped his
love was returned, for the pretty win
ming maiden of ten years before, then
Just stepping from girlhood to woman
hood, had given him the frank, tender
affection of sister. But another had
won Nary Bradley's heart, and while
her father raved over her infatuation
for her lover, Robert wakened from his
dream of happiness.
1t was the story so often told, of a
child who, having had every whim
gratitied from infancy, having been
spoiled, petted, indulged in the most
tritiing wish, is suddenly crossed in
the strongest desire of her life. That
her father should say ''no" to her never
entered Mary Bradley's mind. until she
read the furious reply that answered
Walter Hallett's manly letter of love
and request for fathers sancuon 10
his engagement. 1t had been many
years since the breach between Hugh
Bradley and Stephen Hallett, and the
young men knew nothing of any form
or intimacy. The grave had closed
over his father while he was but a child,
and no record of the friendship be-
trayed had come to him. If it had,
he would have been told the other side of
the story, that Bradley had won away
Stephen Hallett's promised wife, for
she was actually engaged to Stephen,
when her heart turned traitor to her
word, and her love was given to Hugh
Bradley.
Then, in hot revenge. the deserted
lover used the confidence repcsed in